Page 106 of Strike Zone

“But I’m your man. I should be there for you.”

“Is that what you are, my man? I like the sound of that.”

“Damn straight. It’s going to kill me to not be there with you. I just got you and now you’re going to leave.”

“It won’t be forever. Just long enough for me to make him hurt for ever thinking he could mess with the people I love.”

I feel sorry for the man who thinks he can battle against my girl. She won’t back down until she gets what she wants. I’ve been in her line of fire before. Wren is a straight shooter with good fucking aim.

I realize she is going to war for her family and this technically has nothing to do with me. It doesn’t make it any easier to sit idly by and wait for her to come back to me.

A FEW WEEKS LATER

“Where are you off to?” Nash asks when I pass him in the den. He’s lucky he doesn’t have to move and do all this packing bullshit. He’s staying here through the summer along with his friends that are moving in for their senior year.

Now that we've graduated and the season is over there's nothing left to do here. I'm not sad about heading home. It’s the fact that I’m leaving without my road trip partner. My everything partner.

“Wren’s place. I’m going to bring her all her stuff.” I can’t look at it anymore. For every two things of mine I packed up, there was one of hers.

How our lives melded together so quickly, I’ll never understand. This box is a punch in the gut every time I look at it. It's a reminder that she isn't coming with me to Alabama and that she is still shutting me out of parts of her life. I don't know how she can tell me she loves me in one breath and keep secrets in the next.

I should be going to Georgia with her. I should be by her side until we can come home together. But she doesn’t want me there. She’s too independent for her own good.

“Are you breaking up with her?” he asks.

I reel my head back. “No. Why would you think that?”

“She’s going to think you’re removing her from your life if you bring all of that over to her.”

That’s impossible. There is no removing Wren from my life. She sang her way into my heart before either one of us knew it was happening.

28

WREN

“Do you want any of the mugs?” Charlie yells from the kitchen. We’re finally getting around to packing up what remains in the kitchen.

I can’t believe I’m saying goodbye to Newhouse, Charlie, the girls, and Wyatt.

Driving to Georgia tomorrow is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It feels like my heart is going in one direction and I’m headed in another.

The time we’ll be separated has no end date and that’s the hardest part. Like walking through the desert with no destination in sight. If there was a timeline. If I knew it would be two weeks and we could count down together, it would make the distance easier.

“You can have them.” I join her in the kitchen. “Except this one.” I reach into the cabinet and grab the hedgehog mug Wyatt bought me.

My heart speeds in a panic. It’s been weeks, maybe months, since I’ve felt a rush of paralyzing anxiety. Charlie watches me with concern. “I’m fine.” I take the mug and bring it to my room.

Sitting on my bed, I take a few deep breaths.

It’s temporary.

Weeks, maybe days.

He loves me. Being apart changes nothing.

You are stronger than this.

I inhale one last deep breath and wipe the tears from my eyes.

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